Gable line holders and the like



July 11, 1961 J. P. BONGIOVANNI GABLE LINE HOLDERS AND THE LIKE Filed April 25, 1958 INVENTOR John P. Bongiovanni United States Patent 2,991,557 GABLE LINE HOLDERS AND THE LIKE John P. Bongiovanni, 117 Sylvan Drive,

New Kensington, Pa. Filed Apr. 25, 1958, Ser. No. 730,841 4 Claims. (CI. 3385) This invention relates to gable line holders and more particularly to masons guide line holders for maintaining courses of brick and like masonry in the gable ends of buildings.

In laying brick and similar masonry materials in the gable end of a house, it is difficult to keep the courses of masonry plumb and level. In laying up an ordinary wall, a mason lays up the corners and uses the layers of brick in the corner as a guide along with a conventional guide line for each succeeding row of brick. However, when the mason arrives at the gable end of a building, he is faced with the dual problem of irregular and out of plumb gable framing and inability to build up the corners to act as guides for use with conventional guide lines. As a result, it has been the practice, in the past to build up pyramids at the ends to act as guides. The building of the pyramids is guided by the facia board of the gable. Since the carpentry work ongables of buildings is frequently out of plumb the result of the practice is to cause irregularities in the gable *ends and to consume a great deal of time in properly aligning and laying the brick in the gable portion of a building.

I have invented a device which overcomes these diificulties in laying masonry in gable ends of a building. By my device it is possible to lay up a masonry gable which has an even appearance without irregularities and without time consuming aligning and pyramiding of bricks.

I provide a clamping means adapted to clamp to a gable end facia board, a depending member on the clamp adapted to be aligned with the inside edge of the facia board, adjustable spacing means on said depending member adapted to bear upon the last completed course of masonry, an opening in said depending member adapted to receive a guide line and cooperating with the adjustable member to hold the guide line in the opening a distance spaced from said last course of masonry equal to the thickness of the next succeeding masonry course and adjustable line positioning means holding the line fixed in said opening. Preferably, the clamping means is made up of a fixed clamping member and a movable member, the fixed member being adapted to engage the inner surface of a facia board. The depending member is fixed preferably to the clamp so as to provide an inner surface in the plane of the inner edge of the facia board. Preferably, the depending member is inletted at the opening for the guide line a distance equivalent to the thickness of the guide line so that the inner face of the guide line lies in the plane of the inner edge or surface of the facia board.

While certain objects, advantages and purposes of this invention have been set out in the foregoing general discussion, other objects, advantages and purposes will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings in which,

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a gable end of a building under construction, using the device of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an isometric view of the device of the invention;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevation of the structure of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a rear elevation of the device of FIG- URE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is an end elevation of the structure of FIGURE 2.

Referringto the drawings, I have illustrated a facia board 10 and'a course of brick 11. A pair of guide line holders 12 and 13 according to the present invention are fixed to the facia board 10 and hold a line 14 spaced from the last course of bricks 11 a distance equal to the thickness of one course of brick including the masonry joint. The guide line holders 12 and 13 are made up of a channel 15 having spaced sidewalls 16 and 17, one sidewall 16 being adapted to bear against the inside surface of the facia board 10, the other sidewall 17 being threaded to'receive a thumb screw 18 carrying a moving clamping member 19 movable toward and away from the inner surface of sidewall 16 and adapted to engage the outer face of facia board 10. A depending member 20 is fixed to the bottom of the channel so that one face lies in the plane of the inner face of sidewall 16 so that when sidewall 16 is in clamping engagement with facia board 10, the inner surface of member 20 lies in the same plane. The depending member 20 is provided with a slot 21 extending generally parallel to the bottom of the channel, a movable leg 22 is pivotally and slidably mounted on a threaded pin 23 fixed to the depending member 20 below opening 21 and held adjustably on the pin 23 by a thumb nut 24. The leg 22 is provided with a stop member 25 adapted to bear against the upper face 25a of the last courseof masonry'laid. A notch 26 is provided in the opposite end of the leg and is adapted to cooperate with the opening 21 in the depending member to fix the position of line 14 extending through slot 21. The depending member 20 is inletted at its inner face below the slot 21 suflicient so that the line 14 extending throughthe slot 21 has its innermost surface in the plane of the innerface of the; facia board and the inner face 4 of depending member 20. Preferably, the notched portion of the leg 22 is calibrated in standard thicknesses of masonry courses as an aid in setting the guide line holder. Line locking member 28 is pivoted on the outside face of depending member 21 and is adapted to engage the end of line 14 between it and the bottom face of the channel.

In use the leg 22 is adjusted on the depending member 20 to the proper roof pitch and so that the line 14 passes through slot 21 a distance spaced from the bottom of the stop member on the leg equal to the thickness of the next course of masonry. The sidewall 16 is placed inside the facia board and the clamping member :19 is moved to position the stop member on the last placed course of masonry. The movable clamp member is then brought against the outside face of the facia board 10 and tightly clamped thereagainst. The line 14 is stretched taut through the slots 21 and locked with the line locking member 28. As each course of masonry is completed the guide line holding device is moved upwardly on the facia board and reset as described hereinabove.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of this invention, it will be understood that it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a gable line holder and the like for aligning masonry courses in a gable end having a facia board and the like with an inner and an outer face, a channel member adapted to fit over the facia board with one inner face of the channel in engagement with the inner face of the facia board, a moving member within the channel adapted to engage the outer face of the facia board in clamping engagement with said one inner face of the channel, means on the channel acting on said moving member to hold it in position, a depending member on the channel, said depending member being fixed to the channel so that its inner face lies in the plane of the inner face of the facia board, adjustable spacing means on the depending memae s ber spacing the guide line in the opening a distance from the last course of masonry equal to the thickness of a masonry course.

2. In a gable line holder and the like for aligning masonry courses in a gable end having a facia board and the like with an inner and an outer face, a channel member adapted to fit over the facia boardwithone inner face of the channelin engagement with the inner face ofthe facia board, a moving member within the channel adapted to engage the outer face of the facia board in clamping engagement with said one inner face of the channel, means on the channel acting on said moving member to hold it in position, a depending member on the channel, said depending member being fixedto the channel so that its inner face lies in the plane of the inner face of the facia board, adjustable spacing means on the depending member adapted to engage a last complete course of masonry, an opening in said depending member adapted to receive a guide line, said depending member being inletted' along the edge adjacent the opening to hold the guide line in the plane of the inside face of the facia board and means on the adjustable spacing member spac ing the guide line in the opening a distance from the last course of masonry equal to the thickness of a masonry course.

3. In a gable line holder and the like for aligning masonry courses in a gable end having a facia board and the like with an inner and an outer face, clamp means adapted to removably engage the facia board, a depending member on said clamp means, adjustable spacing means on the depending member adapted to engage a last complete course of masonry, a scale on the adjustable spacing means, said depending member having an inclined elongated slot therein intersecting the scale at all working positions and receiving a guide line normally positioned at the intersection of the scale and a wall of the slot holding the line substantially in the plane of the inside face of the facia board whereby tospace the guide line in the slot at distance from the last course of masonry equal to the thickness at e mew-Y qou sa 4. In a gable linefholder; and the like for aligning masonry courses in agableenduhaving a, facialv board and the like with an inner and an outer face, a channel member adapted to fit over the facia board with one inner face of the channel in engagement with the inner face of the facia board, a moving member within the. channel adapted to engage the outer face of the facia board in clamping engagement with said one inner faceof the channel, means on the channel acting on said moving member to hold it in position, a depending memberon the channel, adjustable spacing means on'the-dependingmember adapted to engage a last complete course of masonry, a scale on the adjustable spacing means, said depending member having an inclined elongated slot therein with its long sides substantially parallel to the base of the channel member, said slot intersecting the scale at all working positions and receiving a guide line normally positioned at the intersection of the scale on a long wall-of the slot holding the line substantially in the plane of the inside face of the facia board whereby to space the guide line in the slot a distance from the last course of masonry equal to'the thickness of a masonry-course.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,;10339 Maddox Dec. 26, 1916 2,076,534 Galbraith Apr. 13, 1937 2,809,434 Cordier Oct. 15, 1957 2,811,778 Snyder Nov. 5, 1 957 

